Kennett Parish Council - 21st July 2014
Issues arising from the Meeting of Kennett Parish Council held on 21st July 2014.
Parish Council Positions
The Parish Council has now appointed a new Parish Clerk. Stephen Ball of 124 Station Road has gallantly stepped forward to take the position. A new Parish Councillor, Tim Foddy, will also be co-opted.
***** There is still one vacant Parish Councillor Position. Anyone interested in taking up this position should contact the Parish Clerk, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Highways Flashing Speed Signs
Despite the fact that the Parish Council reports the faults on the Highways Flashing Speed Signs on a regular basis, there are constantly new faults emerging. It is now proposed that, if the 30 mph limit along Station Road between the School and the Dane Hill Road junction is accepted as a Local Highways project, one of the speed signs will be moved to the start of the speed restriction. This proposal is still on the reserve list from last year but will be resubmitted in the new proposals in September 2014.
Village Website
The village website has been completely revamped and will go live on 1 August 2014. The URL will remain the same; http://www.kennettvillage.co.uk/ . The advantage of this new website is that responsible individuals can be given access to update specific pages without relying on one single webmaster.
Railway Bridge Closure
The Parish Council has been informed that the railway bridge at Kennett Station will be closed to traffic between 2200 hours on 22 November – 0600 hours on 23 November 2014. The Council is seeking clarification on the exact purpose of this inspection.
E-Cops Notifications
The local police have issued a number of statements on the E-Cops news bulletin recently and have had a number of successful arrests in the local area. Except for an attempted "smash and grab" break-in on Station Road which was foiled when the occupant emerged from the house, there have been no incidents in Kennett Village. **** Please ensure that your property, including sheds and outhouses are secure before leaving for any length of time. The incident is Station Road was an opportunist activity assuming that the property was empty.
If you want to join the E-Cops Bulletin to be alerted to police activity in the local area, register at: http://www.cambs.police.uk/ecops/
Kentford and Kennett Village Hall Planning Meeting
An independent study has been conducted by the property team who advise Forest Heath District Council (the District facilitating the new Village Hall) on the feasibility of building an extension to the Sports Pavilion at Kennett or renovating/rebuilding a hall on the existing site in Kentford. Kennett Parish Council will listen to the results of the study and decide whether to support the final solution at its next meeting on 11 August.
Next Parish Council Meeting
Due to the unavailability of Councillors for the third Monday of the month, the next Parish Council Meeting will take place at the school at 1930 hours on 11 August 2014 if members of the public wish to attend.
Kennett Parish Council - 13th October 2015
Issues arising from the AGM and Meeting of Kennett Parish Council on 13thOctober 2015
Parish Council Positions
The Parish Council is seeking a Parish Councillor. Anyone interested in taking up any of these positions should contact the chairman, Robin Swanson, at 22 Station Road , Kennett or E-mail him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Village Website
The village web site is being handed over from Derek Miles to the Parish Clerk (Sue Field) for ongoing maintenance. The URL will remain the same ashttp://www.kennettvillage.co.uk
Traffic Calming Measure
The parish is pleased to announce that the traffic calming measure on Station Road south of Kennett Primary School is now in place as is the reduction of the speed limit to 30 Mph on Station Road between the school and the Dane Hill Road junction.
Security Assistance for the Elderly and Vulnerable Members of the Parish
The Parish Council has been approached to identify elderly and vulnerable members of the community who may require assistance to improve the security of their residences. Funding may be available to provide advice and fund locks and chains to prevent people becoming victims of crime. If you fall into this category and want to benefit from this offer, please make yourself known to Robin Swanson (Chairman) at 22 Station Road or Diane Wallis (Parish Councillor) 126 Station Road.
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Kennett Station Foot Bridge Installation
****** Click on the picture above ***** Click on the picture above to
access the photo gallery of the crane to access the photo gallery of the bridge
Some of you may have been aware that yesterday and last night a major construction project took a large step forward. As you may know since January 2014 work has started on the replacement of Kennett Station temporary foot bridge over the track with a permanent solution. I have watched with interest as piles have been driven and concrete has been laid ready for the installation of the iron work that makes up the new footbridge. Not only were the foundations of the bridge laid but also the HVAC power cables running over the railway were removed and relaid under the railway tracks.
On Friday the 25th July 2014 the first sections of the steel ramps and supporting pillars arrived and were installed with great care and precision. The first sections installed were the long ramps on the south side of the track. These extended from point at which the cross track section was to be installed down to the concrete footings leading to the platform.
On the night of the 26th/ 27th of July 2014 another stage of the construction took place where the supporting sections on the North side of the platform were installed together with the cross track section. This was carried out overnight and I must say with very little disturbance to the sleeping residents nearby. An enormous mobile crane (500 tonne capacity) arrived on Saturday afternoon and most of the evening was spent installing this and levelling it ready to lift the large 24 tonne cross track section of the bridge. The station North side supports were installed together with some ramp ironwork ready for the cross track section to be installed.
Once the ironwork either side of the track was installed then the cross track section was lifted in place. By 08:30 the following morning the cross track section had been installed and the crane had been made ready to travel back to it's base. Watching the crane leave the confines of the car park and maneuver its way back down Station Road, in reverse I might add!!, was a sight to behold ( see the pictures in the following photo gallery illustrating this). Luckily the mobile crane had all wheel steering but even so it was a masterclass in driving skill.
The second photo gallery shows what the bridge currently looks like. I asked the foreman of the site when the bridge is due to be completed and he said possibly at the end of September 2014. There is still a considerable abount of work to do as there are a further three sections of ironwork to install and then paths from the platforms and car park have got to be installed together with the lighting on the bridge.
I must say that the degree of precision both in the laying of the foundations to take the bridge ironwork supporting pillars and the accuracy in the production of the bridge sections were truly outstanding. The company that designed and built the ironwork was a company called Nusteel - you can have a look at their website at: http://www.nusteelstructures.com/ its very interesting. Overall well done us Brits.
Please see the following photo galleries of a) the crane and b) the bridge as it is today on the 27th July 2014. As work progresses I'll try and update this news item with further pictures and text .
Derek Miles - Station Road
Gallery of photos of the Footbridge
Gallery of photos of the crane
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